Sakura's Side
by Leilye
Summary: We all know about what happened with Tsubaki-chan and Kyouta-kun, but what happened to Sakura while their love unfolded?
1. Sakura's Snow

_I do not own Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu. The story/plot/characters are owned by Minami Kanan._

**Chapter 1 – Sakura's Snow**

The wind howled and snow silently landed on the window. I watched a small snowflake that gently swayed towards my room, but it suddenly disappeared because of an unlikely gust that threw it off its track. I was miserable and alone, just like last year. I tried to hide it with an exterior filled with grace and false confidence, but it all fell apart as I eyed the frozen trees that sat outside of my window, taunting me, telling me to go to play with them like I used to. That was a long time ago. Tsubaki had her own life of study; she was off to high school which meant that she has even less time to spend with me.

Through the wall, I heard her bed creak. She was up. I hopped off of the mattress and put my uniform on, carefully balanced the skirt and socks so it gave off an "available" aura, and gave myself the reasons to do so. When it comes to guys, you don't want to be cheap, but you also don't want to seem taken or off-limits. Trust me on this one. Experience has never had a better poster child than me. I looked into the mirror, messed my hair up, and sprinted out the door.

When I peeked through into Tsubaki's room, I was astonished to see somebody completely different staring at the mirror. She looked beautiful. Jealousy snuck up upon me before I could've slapped it away. Before my greedy thoughts piled ever-higher into my mind, I busted through the door. Her hair and skirt had already been pushed down and she looked at me as if I were an alien that had come to abduct her.

"Tsubaki, could you please do my hair? I won't impress anybody with a bed head that is currently occupying me!" I said, gesturing to the hair that had just been freshly arranged by none other than yours truly.

"This has got to be the fiftieth time that I've told you to dry your hair before you went back to sleep. Sakura, I just don't know what to do with you," she sighed, humming the tune to her favorite commercial that constantly played on the radio. Grabbing her tools, she brushed through the thick, blonde mess that nobody would've dared to call hair.

"So, do you plan on dating anybody? High school is when a lot of people lose their, ahem, first times, if you know what I mean," I baited, eyes dancing around innocently. I felt the tension in her constant brushes rise.

"No, I intend to become the class representative. After all of the studying that I did over the summer, I'm sure I can beat whatever representative is up now," she gagged, almost as if it hurt her to admit that she didn't get the position. The tension was increasing even more. The time to change the subject had arrived, unless I wanted all of my hair to be gone.

"Are you really going to wear that to school? Like, really? You do realize that you are practically diving into social suicide, right?" I said, looking at her outfit as she continued to slave over my hair. I suppose I could've said that in a nicer way, though...

"I really don't care about what others think of me. I'd like to be known as the smart, confident one that knows what is appropriate and follows the dress code... unlike a little girl that I met the other day. What was her name? Was it Sayuri? Sakuri? Sakura? Yup, I think that was it!" chimed my sister, humming even more loudly than usual. I dropped all conversation. This old dog wasn't learning any new tricks from me.

By the time she had finished, my hair was flawless. Except for a couple of missing strands, it looked lovely. I ran to the bathroom and did my makeup, carefully dodging my eye as I applied mascara. I had made the mistake of letting mascara in once; never going back. Mascara might as well be called onion because they both make me tear up faster than I can say "ow".

I ate breakfast as fast as possible. My mother burned holes into my back because I hadn't done so well on my tests last year and I certainly did not want to hear her long lecture about how boys aren't everything. Looking at the time, I grabbed an apple, picked up my bag, and ran out the front door. I waited for a bit until I turned around to check on Tsubaki. She was gently slinging her backpack over her shoulder. Mom hugged her, waving her off with tears in her eyes. Kissing her goodbye, Tsubaki skipped out of the apartment. One of my admirers tagged along with me. As we left, I couldn't help the thoughts that flooded into my head. Where was my hug?

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**Any critiques are welcomed and thank you for reading!**

**- **Leilye :)


	2. Sakura's Leaves

_I do not own Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu. The story/plot/characters are owned by Minami Kanan._

**Chapter 2 – Sakura's Leaves**

I ran up to the school's steps and jumped up to read my new schedule. "Class 1, Oshita". Great. I had heard this guy had higher standards than most other teachers... I might actually have to stay awake in class! Why couldn't I be a nerd for once? All of the otakus were, apparently, very much favored in that class. I figured that I'd just get Jun to do my homework for me. He was willing to walk me to school, so it'd be easy to convince him that he might as well go the extra step.

The sakura leaves drifted down from the trees as autumn began to set in. The brown and red littered the courtyard with astonishing orange leaves that were carelessly kicked around by the students. I wished that I could kneel down, I wished to protect those leaves that had been carefully brought up by the sakura trees themselves, but people would think of me as a freak. At the end of the day, looks and status prevailed. It was a lesson that I'd learned virtually before I knew how to talk. Instead of cherishing them, I stepped on the leaves as I walked.

"Hello, class. I am Mr. Oshita and I will not stand to be called anything else. You might think that I'm strict, but as the year passes, I'm sure a couple shining stars will brighten," he squealed, eyes searching the crowd for large glasses with otaku haircuts. When his eyes landed on my skirt, he continued his speech by saying, "and I hope the rest of you newcomers will learn to behave before the dean teaches them how to."

"Sakura-channn," said a voice behind me. I instantly recognized it. Oh, God, not this plastic witch, otherwise known as Michi. I walked away, pretending to be oblivious to her appearance, but did she care? Nope, "I've got a surprise for you! I'm dating Kiyoshi, but he's a bore. Would you like to take him off of my hands?"

She knew that I'd liked him last semester for whatever reason. Her sole reason for living is to compete with me. I wasn't going to give her the time of day, "Michi-chan! I could never do that, sweetie. You practically belong together. By the way, it's been forever. I've missed you so much,"

Michi huffed, but quickly worked to hide her dissatisfaction. She nodded, turned, and walked away. I wondered how Mieko was doing.

"It's been forever!" screeched a voice. Speak of the devil and the devil appears. What a pain. Now I have to pull my "I don't care about you but I'll pretend that I do" face out.

"Mieko, my love! It's been forever indeed. I cried every night because I couldn't see your beautiful face! What's been going on in your life, wife-y for life-y?" I inquired, tuning out to make sure Jun-kun wasn't anywhere in sight. Jun-kun followed me around everywhere. He was the exact same admirer that had come to pick me up the first day of school and, coincidentally, also the one that came at the end of the day. I needed him to realize that I had standards that surpassed what he could give me. Thankfully, the coast was clear.

"Nothing much. Just missing the most gorgeous girl in our middle school, Saki-chan," she chimed, not skipping one beat when giving me a terrible nickname that hurts me to repeat. I smiled and sat down in my seat. I wasn't going to play this game for forever, you know. School is such a pain.

It had only been one minute of peace before a couple guys walked over to mess with me, playing the "jerk" card to make me fall for one of them. In your dreams, suckers, although I really don't want to hear about some of their dreams. "Messed up" doesn't even begin to describe these kiddos. Before I knew it, class was finally out.

The days were thrown at me. It was almost as if blinking would make me miss a month. Unfortunately, classes were boring as always. Mr. Oshita would constantly complain about all of the sleeping that I did in class, which I find unreasonable. If he wanted me to learn Japanese, maybe he should make his lessons more exciting, but that's just me. As always, Tsubaki was going through all of her classes with flying colors. She'd gotten a lot quieter, which was really unnerving.

I tried to ask her about it during one of our hair sessions, as I began to call them.

"Tsubaki, has anything been happening in school?" I said.

"Funny you should ask that. No, nothing has really been happening. I suppose there is this superlatively annoying guy there with the same name as me, which is a start to explain what has been 'happening'. Consequently, I'd like for you to address me as 'Hibino' or 'Onee-chan' from now on," she replied, once again tearing my hair right out of its roots. I had to save myself from impending baldness that was certain to occur if this kept going.

"What a kid, right? Somebody can get to even my smart, amazing sister? Haha, this world really isn't as carefree as it seems," I cheered, smiling my widest smile. She wasn't buying it. She never does.

"Sakura... if you met a nasty guy that messed with you, what would you do?" she asked, pausing with her brushing and looking at me through the mirrors. Her brown eyes shimmered and I looked away.

"I really don't know. I'm not one of those girls that you can push around, I guess." I chuckled, nervously darting a quick smile at her direction. I never asked about what had happened at her school ever again.

The next week, my mother finally initiated a conversation with me. She looked up and said, plain and simple, "Tsubaki's picking you up today."

That was it. End of conversation; any efforts to start it up would just be futile. I didn't even bother to use my voice to respond as I nodded, picking up my backpack to get ready for school. Jun-kun was waiting for me (as always), but I wasn't in the mood for putting up with him today. I grabbed my homework from his hands and yelled, "Look, Jun, I'm so sick of you following me around like a little dog. Can't you find some other owner, or are you attached to me by a leash, or something? I bet if I walked the other way, you'd be tugged along. Get a life!"

I looked up and he kind of stared at me, unsure of what to say. Jun lifted a hand, but before he could touch me, I sprinted. While I was running along the sidewalk, a truck passed by and sprayed me with water. Karma's a bitch. School was going to be fun.

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**Any critiques are welcomed and thank you for reading!**

**- **Leilye :)


	3. Sakura's Candy

_I do not own Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu. The story/plot/characters are owned by Minami Kanan._

**Chapter 3 – Sakura's Candy**

My day was going horribly. My clothes were soaked, my daily escort probably hated me now, and my hair was a mess. To make matters worse, Tsubaki was no longer home. I'd have to the same hairstyle that she had done this morning which was going to take forever. I didn't care about being late to school anymore; I didn't even care about what my mom would think. I just turned around on my heels and sprinted towards the apartments.

I cautiously walked in, picking up my soggy shoes and socks. It was silent throughout. If a pin dropped, I'd be willing to bet good yen that I would've heard it. A sudden urge rammed itself into my heart. I threw my shoes and socks against the wall as hard as I could, and I sank down to cry. Just as I was about to stand up, my mother walked in, one eyebrow arched higher than I'd ever seen it.

"You realize if there is a stain left on the wall because of your mess, I'm going to make you paint over it. If only you could paint over bad grades, Sakura," she drawled, dropping my shoes and socks into my lap, "not to mention how much of a mess you look like right now. It looks like my styling skills are suddenly needed."

I dragged my shoes over to the sink, rinsed them out, and dried them with my hairdryer. My mom sat me down in a chair to do my hair and makeup.

"Would you like to have the same style that Tsubaki gave you this morning?" she said, smiling. I was astonished. She actually knew what I had worn!

"Hai!" I exclaimed, scaring even myself. I sat still and rubbed my eyes to make sure that it wasn't a dream. It wasn't Tsubaki that my mom was talking to. It was me.

She finished my hair (and the makeup job wasn't bad at all!) just in time for me to make the first half of school. My clothes had been sitting out for a while and were now dryer than I expected. I bid her farewell, and jogged off to school.

I joined in with my friends during lunch and was quickly flooded with questions as to why I was late. Of course the plastic witch, Michi, was the one to ask if I had done H things with others again. I wasn't going to lose my cool, though. Michi could die in a hole, for all I cared, but then again, it'd probably be an improvement to her current life if she did.

"I was so worried about you! What happened? I couldn't sit still in class today because I feared for the worst. By the way, Jun-kun has been crying this entire morning and he had to go to the nurse's office. What did you do this time?" Mieko said, obviously just after some gossip. If she wanted to have some gossip, then I'd give it to her.

"Actually, I told him off today. He tried to hit me and I fell down into a puddle, ruining my outfit and my makeup. It was terrible... I couldn't even defend myself!" I chuckled, trying to look chill so that they'd admire my skill in handling problems like these. The more boys it seemed like I attracted, the more boys would come.

"No way. What happened aft-"

"I have to go, sorry. Toodles!" I said, smiling cheerfully.

Mr. Oshita looked suspiciously as I entered his classroom. I glared back with a defiant "what's your problem?" look. He shrugged it off and started on his lesson. It was getting too boring for me, so I picked up my bags and left. He didn't even try to stop me, and my entire class stared at me as I walked out the door. Mixed feelings were scattered behind me- I could feel them. Jealousy, hope, scorn, and... hurt. I shut my eyes and continued on my way. Jun was a guy. He would get over me. I didn't deserve him anyways. I didn't deserve anyone.

As soon as I got to my sister's school, I could feel all of the guys staring at me. I didn't know that my charm and charisma worked on high school boys, too. Maybe I'd come over more often to hang out.

Before I could even reach Hibino, I was swarmed by boys. Apparently, it was a festival. There was lots of chocolate being sold, but I managed to get lots for free. The more cheerful my grin got, the more chocolate I received. By the time I got to Hibino, my hands were full of candy.

"I got here early, onee-chan!" I yelled to her. She ran over, stared questioningly at my chocolate, and asked me how I'd got it. I simply told her that I had gotten some from the guys at her school to mask that I'd tried really hard to impress all of the high school boys.

Suddenly, I spotted him. Kyouta; the hottest guy I'd ever seen, including television. I ran up to him and introduced myself. He turned out to be really nice, but was actually kind of quiet. He gave me a smile that melted my heart away, and in my head, I could already see the two of us walking down the street together with envious eyes glaring. I even scored his number! Tsubaki didn't seem too happy about it, but whatever. Kyouta was my newest target, and I sure as hell wasn't about to let her ruin my love life like she'd ruined my family one.

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**Sorry about the lack of updates. School is extremely busy and homework has been running my extra time. Please leave any comments or suggestions because I know that my writing isn't perfect.**

**- **Leilye :)


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